Political Science · Columbia University
Yeah. Adam is still a grad student but he is awesome. The lecture was painful nut section was not. I feel bad for the more than half of the registered students who never came. So, we didn't discuss the reading much or actually do the reading most of the time. Adam didn't either & he was ok with us not doing the insanely boring reading. We had a lot of good discussions about the topics & material as well as many times where we joked around. Adam was very upfront about what he wanted from us for the exams & paper. During the last section before each exam, he gave a like one sentence summary of each reading, which was extremely helpful. He also is an easy grader. He does come off as arrogant though. But he really made a terrible class worthwhile.
Adam Branch (don't call him Professor, he is too humble for that) is absolutely amazing. He made theorists as dry as Thucydides exciting, giving us the essence of their concepts in his own way. Adam has an amazing sense of humor (who else would give extra credit for writing Haikus on their final?) and is an all-around good guy. Branch has a lot of talent. Anyone who can understand these theories and present them with ease to a class is good in my book, and Adam Branch is the best.
If you want to learn political theory this is the class to take. You will walk away with an extensive knoledge of at least ten of the Thirteen Thoeist Adam covers. you will be reading a ton of material, and there is one midterm in class, and one take home final, plus a paper(4-5pages). Adam is really a great professor. The work is hard but because of Adam's awesom teaching ability it will seem far from it. Plain and simple: work hard and learn more then you will in most class, and maybe even get an A-(:. Slack off and like any other class at CU you will pay the price. Hands down Adam is one of the finest professors at Columbia.
Really a fantastic instructor. I highly recommend any class he teached - he is engaging, always extremely well-prepared, outstandingly enthusiastic. Fair grader.
a lot of boring reading1 midterm1 final1 10-12 page research paper on a country of your choice
Young, he is a professor who really loves what he does and wants to show you how to love it to. Big into class discussion, wants to hear what you think before he preaches anything he thinks. Excellent teacher, knows what he's talking about and likes to talk about it. Very available for out-of-class discussions/meetings. Assigns a lot of reading but it is all relevant and purposeful. Great class.
Adam Branch is truly the most arrogant person I have ever met in my life. He is a decent lecturer though. He claims to allow re-writes for better grades; don't believe this. The two women who wrote the reviews above, who were enamored by him, believed his "re-write" fabrications and wrote stellar reviews of him. After he saw those, he screwed everyone. Ask around and you will see that this story is true.
Look the man is a genius and that is a simple fact - though I am not enamored of him I can say that he is an excellent instructor. If you tend to fall asleep in class or be inclined to look at hour-hands on clocks for stimulation his class (or Columbia) would not be for you. If on the other hand you're interested enough in the material to listen then he is a perfectly excellent instructor to have for the class. Re-writes are for high schoolers anyway so don't let that sway you.
This guy is AWESOME!!! He has a personality that is out of this world. He totally brings the class and the material alive. You would not want to miss a class. The workload is easy, and he gives you lots of time and guidelines to prepare. He is an EXTREMELY fair grader!! He is the first prof that I 've met who actually wants to see his students get A's. All you need to do is go to class, and take good notes. If you want to learn something, and get a fairly easy A, take this class.
Although the work load was fairly easy(since you really dont have to do the readings) I didnt find him very interesting. His lectures tend to be long and boring and you frequently find yourself either falling asleep or looking at the clock praying for class to be over. The class is not horrible, but I definately would not recomend it.